Study Seeks Contaminated Sediment Disposal Site

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:	Steve Babcock, Project Manager (206) 764-3651 or
	Gerry Arbios, Public Affairs Specialist (206) 764-3751
	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Date:	July 31, 1997

SEATTLE-- As part of a federal and state partnership, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will join three Washington State agencies to conduct a three year, comprehensive study of possible locations for disposal of contaminated Puget Sound sediments. Signing the $3.5 million Feasibility and Cost Sharing Agreement earlier this month was "a milestone towards identifying and choosing sites for disposal of sediments we can’t easily dispose of today -- sites which will be environmentally safe and benefit the regional economy," said Tom Fitzsimmons, Director of the Department of Ecology.

Corps’ project manager Steve Babcock noted "there are 54 miles of federal navigation channels, more than 200 small boat harbors and 34 public port districts throughout the Puget Sound. Most of these areas are located on state-owned land and all need periodic dredging. Contaminated sediments from dredging channels, harbors, environmental cleanup and habitat restoration sites are currently either covered or ‘capped’ with clean material, or dredged and trucked to landfills." Babcock also said "the lack of less expensive disposal options has sometimes stopped good projects dead in their tracks." Fitzsimmons added that, "once we have safe and cost-effective disposal capacity for this contaminated material, more sediment cleanups can move forward."

Costs of the study will be shared by the Corps and three state agencies -- Ecology, Natural Resources and Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team -- with funds recently appropriated by the U.S. Congress and the state legislature. The state and the Corps will also work closely with the U.S. EPA and Washington Public Ports Association to conduct the study in three stages. The agencies will:

• prepare a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) broadly addressing disposal alternatives, a siting decision process and siting criteria, as well as facility ownership, management and liability issues (late 1998);
• select one or more preferred alternative sites for a disposal facility (early 1999); and
• prepare a site-specific EIS and Feasibility Report (summer 2000).

Formal EIS scoping hearings on the project were held in December 1995. The Corps and State of Washington hope for more extensive public involvement early and throughout the study. For information, or to be added to a project mailing list, call Steve Babcock (Corps) at 206-764-3651 or Tom Gries (Washington Department of Ecology) 360-407-7536 or tgri461@ecy.wa.gov.